I got a scoop!

6 Replies

Not living in Silicon Valley, not focusing on business as much as tech, spending half my time on administrative work and being a little more soft-headed than other tech reporters means I don’t get big fat scoops very often. Yesterday I did and it was pretty awesome. I heard word that Netscape founder Marc Andreessen was backing a new browser, based on Facebook, so I did some digging around and then published this post: RockMelt: Netscape’s Andreessen Backing Stealth Facebook Browser.

Thankfully I got a screenshot and not just news. Because of that even some people who didn’t want to link to me in subsequent coverage did.

The moral of the story is that people should tip me off to hot stuff more often. I think I did a good job covering this one (though I should have reached out to two people rumored to be involved as one has since denied it) and will do a good job covering your tips too. Send ’em to marshall@readwriteweb.com or hit me up by IM. General tips can be sent to the whole staff at tips@readwriteweb.com but the juicy secret ones can come right here. Thanks.

  • I sent you an exclusive on a new app by Twitter DM a couple weeks ago… is that a bad method? 😉 What’s the best way to reach you?

  • Nevermind, I see your email address now. Will send that way.

  • I emailed you and told you about having invented the Tinfoil Hat app for the iPhone but you never wrote about it. Now the CIA and the University of Oregon Psychology Department are recording my thoughts.

  • Marshall

    Curt, your concerns will be taken into consideration. Thank you for contacting us.

  • You scooped the new york times! I think rockmelt is really exciting news. Front end design and user experience on social media needs a shot in the arm, and Andreesen’s right that a browser built from scratch now would be a completely different beast. Conversational media have totally changed the volume and type of content we now consume all the time — to treat messaging (twitter) as web content, as so many readers and aggregators do, is missing out the relational dimensions, the social relevance, and so many other ways in which conversation differs from published content.

    Well done!

  • EM

    You scooped the new york times! I think rockmelt is really exciting news. Front end design and user experience on social media needs a shot in the arm, and Andreesen’s right that a browser built from scratch now would be a completely different beast. Conversational media have totally changed the volume and type of content we now consume all the time — to treat messaging (twitter) as web content, as so many readers and aggregators do, is missing out the relational dimensions, the social relevance, and so many other ways in which conversation differs from published content.
    Well done!